Anti-Muslim campaign could become racist witch-hunt
By Seumas Milne in London (Extract from Gulf Times 25/9/2007)
BRITONS are now more suspicious of Muslims than are Americans or citizens of any other major western European country, including France.
According to an international Harris poll last month, nearly 30% of British people believe it’s impossible to be both a Muslim and a Briton (compared with 14% who think you can’t be French and a Muslim); 38% think the presence of Muslims in the UK is a threat to national security (compared with 21% in the US); and 46% believe that Muslims have too much political power in Britain, far above the level of any other surveyed country.
You might think that these findings, reported in the Financial Times
newspaper, would have been the occasion for some soul-searching about where British society is going, the state of community relations, and a new selfrestraint in the way Muslim stories are covered in the media. Not a bit of it.
The fact that a large minority of Britons have some of the most Islamophobic attitudes in the Western world has passed without comment. Instead, we have since been treated to a renewed barrage of lurid
and hostile stories about Muslims which can only have further inflamed anti-Muslim opinion and the community’s own sense of being under permanent siege.
This isn’t just a problem of hate-filled tabloid rants, such as the Daily Express’s denunciation of Muslims’ “alien and threatening outfits”, or columnist Richard Littlejohn’s Muslim-baiting in the Daily
Mail.
For the past few weeks, there has been a stream of hostile coverage in the heavyweight press and on TV current affairs programmes. Last week it is was an hour-long Channel 4 Dispatches about attacks on Muslim converts to Christianity; the week before that it was the BBC Newsnight
programme’s 20-minute interview with the latest defector from the non-violent Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir; Earlier this month it was a Newsnight special on radical Islamist books in east London libraries, complete with sinister music and a round-table debate.
The same time there was a London Times front-page news story about the
“hardline takeover of British mosques”, focused on the deeply conservative Deobandi religious movement which has long had a strong presence among British Muslims of Pakistani origin.
For both Newsnight programmes, it was apparently felt that Patrick Mercer – the Conservative MP sacked by his party’s leader David Cameron for making racially inflammatory remarks and appointed a security adviser by Gordon Brown – was the ideal person to comment on Muslim
issues. Meanwhile, the novelist Martin Amis denounced “liberal relativist appeasers” of a “racist, misogynist, homophobic, totalitarian, inquisitorial, imperialist and genocidal” doctrine.
The problem isn’t necessarily with the stories themselves. There are obviously legitimate issues to report about jihadist or anti-Jewish strains within the Deobandi school, the agenda of a group like Hizb ut-
Tahrir that the government originally wanted to ban, or intimidation of converts to any religion.
But in a climate of anti-Muslim prejudice, their disproportionate and
sensationalist treatment can only feed ethnic tensions (“Christians in Britain are under attack”, last week’s Channel 4 Dispatches programme began, even if the numbers were tiny).
Nor is the record of these kinds of reports impressive – an earlier Dispatches programme on the preaching of hate in British mosques was recently found by the police and Crown Prosecution Service to have “completely distorted” what speakers had said.
The level of Islamophobia highlighted by the Harris poll is obviously partly a response to the July 2005 bombings and later failed terror attacks. But given the fact that most British people have little
contact with Muslims, some are bound to be swayed by the media campaigns of the past couple of years – which have not only focused on jihadist groups but also the niqab and multiculturalism.
What has given the anti-Muslim onslaught particular force is that many
secular liberals have convinced themselves that since Islam is an ideology rather than an ethnicity – and because they see themselves as defending liberal values – they are on the righteous side of racism. In reality, of course, religion isn’t only about beliefs, it’s also about culture and identity and, as the (far right) British National Party has worked out, Islam has become a toxic racial proxy.
The relentless public invective against Muslims and Islamism is also clearly fuelled by a political agenda, which seeks to demonstrate that jihadist violence is driven, as Tony Blair and the US neoconservatives always insisted, by a socially disconnected ideology rather than
decades of Western invasion, occupation and support for dictatorships across the Muslim world.
That is certainly the view of Richard Watson, the reporter behind Newsnight’s Muslim coverage, who recently wrote that extreme Islamism and terror are the product of a “seductive cult”, not Western foreign policy, and demanded that British Muslims find new leaders.
And the co-author of the thinktank report which formed the basis of
Newsnight’s programme on Islamist books in municipal libraries is the selfproclaimed neocon Douglas Murray.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is said to want to mimic the clandestine methods used by the CIA against communism during the Cold War in the cultural field to win Muslim hearts and minds. If the British government’s sponsorship of the pliant Sufi Muslim Council is any
indication of the way he wants to go, that won’t work – nor will any approach that tries to load responsibility for jihadist violence on to the Muslim community while refusing to take responsibility for the government’s own role in fanning the flames by supporting aggression and
occupation in the Muslim world.
None of this is an argument for refraining from criticising Muslims or
their organisations – but it does highlight the need for context and sensitivity in a climate in which Muslims are under a crude assault that would simply not be accepted if targeted on any other community. The relentless media onslaught in Britain on Muslims, their culture and institutions risks turning into a racist witch-hunt.
On the ground, it translates into violent attacks – and Crown Prosecution Service figures show that 82% of convictions for identified religiously aggravated offences last year involved attacks on Muslims.
Those attacks reportedly spike not only after terrorist incidents but also in response to media feeding frenzies.
Some pro-war liberals like to argue that Islamophobia doesn’t exist – try telling that to those at the sharp end.
Guardian News & Media
if you choose to blame suicide bombers for killing people then Im free to choose to blame the west as the reason we have suicide bombers. Frankly I think blaming in itself is stupid and pointless because we'll just end up going in circles and nothing would have been achieved- something that you seem to point out repeatedly in your posts. So again stop blaming period!
I cannot understand.
You get irritated and worried coz of an individual blowing himself. Fine, let us get high tech weapons and smart bombs to use them.
Don't you get irritated when Israel or America or the NATO use cluster bombs or vaccuum bombs against civilians?
Am sorry, the first case is an individual or a group of individuals crime/terrorist act. The second case is a whole nation(s) crime/terrorist act.
Now you know. And there are pictures showing Rommy smiling when meeting with Saddam. Nobody can deny this.
wouldn't you, considering I was living in Basrah at the time!
No TV and no newspapers, in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the tracers in the sky to watch for entertainent and the Iraqi gunship helicopters flying overhead to listen to, whilst reading the latest copy of our 'escape' route in case the Iranians got too close to us.
I guess I wasn't listening intently to the BBC World Service :(
Jauntie its DOnald Rumsfeld who went as special representativeof the US government in the early 80's to have a discussio with him when the Iran-Iraq war was going on
I doubt any of us think Islam is bad anymore than we think any other religion is. We are just little people .. it's not us who are fighting each other.
:o(
Points taken, but who is Rummy?
Islam is not bad its the peoples reactions that is tainting the religion a bad name else every religion has its own practices The choice of accepting it depends on the individual
He was murdered becuase the truth would have been out regarding who supplied the nerve agents and the arsenal.
What was Rummy boy doing in the 80's in Baghdad scolding saddam or encouraging him to go on killing.
Study history before you go after the so-called suicide bombers.
who encouraged saddam hussein to go after the Iranians?
Who provided him mustard gas? Who was providing him all the stuff
to kill those innocent civilians?
Where were all those hypocrites who encouraged Shia to rebel against Saddam and then turned their backs on them After the First Gulf War.
Jauntie most of the dictators excepting a ver few have been financed and armed by the Americans mainly and a few European countries(mainly UK and France) as well to further their goal. Even in the middle east you will find a lots of them.
Where there are no strtegic interests for them the westerners will not interfere much(read Burma) other wise they will intervene stealthily or proactivel to destabilise the country( read Iran)
Let's presume (although this is far from the truth) that Saddam killed thousands of Iraqis, is that a green light for the americans to do the same? Why was he murdered then?
[img_assist|nid=27385|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=180|height=125]
wonder what happened to them ... superfluous to needs at the moment I suppose. No cause at present.
Hussain and his henchmen killed thousands of innocents in Iraq
yes I sure do Alexa sometimes I wonder what crimes the innocent people did to suffer this.
So dont just single out the suicide bombers for those crimes in part it is the western governments themselves that are responsible for the situation to arise.
cAlexa consider it as collateral damage.
Think of it as innocent civilians being killed in Iraq/Afghanistan when the soldiers/mmercenaries just shoot at random.
The covert acts done by CIA in various countries of the world seems to be easily forgotten. The thousands killed in South America by the so called agents of United States is not a crime.
When governements elected legitimately by the people are boycotted or overthrown with support from the west is not a crime.
YOu are damned if you do and damned if you dont!! isnt that the message being given?
NOw what were the so-called dutch troops doing in BOsnia when thousand of people(read muslims)under their guard were killed by the Serbs. The but when they realised that the Bosnians were going to come under the hands of the so-called radicals they intervened.
The FIS in Algeria were banned even though they had won an outright majority in Algeria. Who supported the ban the so-called promoters of democracy!!
Who suppported the massacre of Rwandans ( the French of course) now they run around threatening Iran.
When the majority of massacres and killings of people have been at the hands of Americans no one dares open their mouth.
It is too much to even describe in this forum. A few suicide bombings here and there rankles the so called supporters of the west or the westerners themselves. The idion You sow what you reap is trurning out to be true for the westerners.
Pity the common man of the West who has to live in fear because of the actions of their governments who on the one hand dole out a few dollars here and there to help the poor and impoverished and on the other hand send thier armies to kill innocents in the name of democracy.
PM asked if we can "discuss any problem associated with Muslims today and NOT bring Israel into it?"
Can you do the same without bringing suicide bombers into the discussion? becasue isn't that also laying the blame?
"unfortunately we Muslims have been involved in too many acts against civilians, etc., to gain us much sympathy. We will not be viewed sympathetically in the West until we appear to be doing something to clean up our own backyard."
The muslims are only reacting to the amounts of crimes being committed by foriegn armies against their civilians. If accepting being slaughtered in total silence is considered "cleaning the backyard" then I presume that millions prefer to maintain dirty backyards. Sometimes they are so desperate that they don't give a damn about gaining sympathy because they know that they'll be slaughtered either way!
I don't remeber any muslim reaction in any western country that is not involved in the dirty games of the middle east. The 1st time Spain was attacked was after its involvment in Iraq!
Even the Irish have reacted many times inside England. Reacting to injustice has nothing to do with a specific religion. It is only that now 99% of the aggressions around the world are agains Islam & Islamic countries (including the massacers in Europe; Bosnia & Chechnyia)
"I think we all should step away from the "blame"game.
If a person decides to blow somebody or something up, then that is their decision"
In 99% of the cases it is not their decision. If they kill the whole family of some person in a savage way & put him in a desperate position where he has nothing more to lose, then can you blame him? This person could be a Palestinean in the occupied lands, a Chechnyian muslim under the Russian occupation, an Irish in Belfast, a Bosnian in former Yogoslavia...etc.
"If Muslims could state that the Koran is a history book and that they no longer support the violent verses contained within it it would go a long way to relieving the anxieties of many who do try to understand the religion"
And what else? Ask them to invent a new Koran stating that it is a bless by Allah if a muslim gets slaughtered by an American, Brit, Israeli, Russian, Serbian....etc?
"I like Israel just as much as you do. But as long as things and people are blown up in the West in the name of Allah, things will stay as they are"
But much more people are being slaughter daily in the East....and it's not in the name of Allah!!!
"Israel, while being a big part of the problem in the Middle East is an easy Red Herring for Arabs to toss out. It absolves you of any responsibility in any of the conflicts today. Can you even discuss any problem associated with Muslims today and NOT bring Israel into it?"
I guess this is the muslim version of the "holocaust". This is how they trade with it!
"I sometimes wonder how much Muslims in this part of the World understand about either Christianity or Judaism or ANY other religions etc."I was a bit taken aback on both counts, to be honest, and it made me wonder how much about other religions and ways are really understood here. Whereas, in the West we have at least 'some' degree of multi-national/religious knowledge!"
Hehehe...well that 'some degree' has 80% of the western expats arriving here in a country they have NEVER heared of before :-)
I had an American friend who wanted to visit Jerusalem. Her mom was so scared & kept telling her "please be careful of the Pakistanis there"...."Palestineans, mom.....Palestineans" was the reply!
I have another Brit (cyber) friend who says:
"I'm certain that non-muslims aren't really supposed to be tolerated"
Talk about multi-national/religious knowledge!
"since Islam does not condone killing and suicide bombers, then maybe it should make itself understood, loud and clear.
With action for the whole world to see. If drastic actions can be taken (per sharia law)in Islamic countries, maybe those actions should also be taken against those who bomb, brainwash"
Those who "bomb & brainwash" can be armies of terrorist countries who come here to occupy countries that are not theirs & start killing civilians. Maybe the sharia law actions that are being taken by muslims against these armies & the countries they represent, ARE the right actions that should be taken. Everyone look at the issue from a different perspective, you see.
Unfortunately, once ethics & morals are lost, once those armies start killing innocent civilians, you can't expect the other party to commit to ethics & morals & spare the civilians!
"America does not make them do this, it is radical clerics who do"
I know! One very famous radical cleric is called G.W.Bush
"The Arabs have 22 countries, most of them large and many of them very wealthy. The Jews have one tiny state..."...with enough nuc's to sweep those 22 countries of their feet!
People, I don't support violence, muslim or non-muslim. I am just insisting that in order to stop the violence, cure the causes by the root. Have all foriegn armies leave the area & you will be putting an end to almost all the angry reactions around the world
[img_assist|nid=27385|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=180|height=125]
and it was closed.
You know there is some argument as to whether Christians and Jews were treated that well under the "Golden Age" of Islam. From Wikipedia
"Treatment of non-Muslims
The treatment of non-Muslims in the Caliphate has been a subject of considerable debate among scholars and commentators, especially those interested in drawing parallels to the coexistence of Muslims and non-Muslims in the modern world. It has been argued that Jews (and other religious minorities) were treated significantly better in Muslim-controlled Iberia than in Christian western Europe, living in a unique "golden age" of tolerance, respect and harmony. Though al-Andalus was a key center of Jewish life during the early Middle Ages, producing important scholars and one of the most stable and wealthy Jewish communities, there is no clear scholarly consensus over whether the relationship between Jews and Muslims was truly a paragon of interfaith relations, or whether it was simply similar to the treatment Jews received elsewhere at the same time.
María Rosa Menocal, a specialist in Iberian literature at Yale University, has argued that "Tolerance was an inherent aspect of Andalusian society".[16] Menocal's 2003 book, The Ornament of the World, argues that the Jewish dhimmis living under the Caliphate, while allowed fewer rights than Muslims, were still better off than in other parts of Christian Europe. Jews from other parts of Europe made their way to al-Andalus, where they were tolerated - as were Christians of sects regarded as heretical by various European Christian states.
Bernard Lewis takes issue with this view, arguing its modern use is ahistorical and apologetic:
The claim to tolerance, now much heard from Muslim apologists and more especially from apologists for Islam, is also new and of alien origin. It is only very recently that some defenders of Islam have begun to assert that their society in the past accorded equal status to non-Muslims. No such claim is made by spokesmen for resurgent Islam, and historically there is no doubt that they are right. Traditional Islamic societies neither accorded such equality nor pretended that they were so doing. Indeed, in the old order, this would have been regarded not as a merit but as a dereliction of duty. How could one accord the same treatment to those who follow the true faith and those who willfully reject it? This would be a theological as well as a logical absurdity.[17]
All and all, it appears, however, that Jews living under Muslim rule in Al-Andaluz did live significantly better than Jews living in Christian lands, although this changed once the fundamentalist Almoravids Muslims of Western Africa took control of the penninsula, and persecution of dhimmi Jews and Christians became every bit as bad as that under Christian rule."
"I fight with love and I laugh with rage, you have to live light enough to see the humor and long enough to see some change." Ani Difranco
forgive spelling please
Catch up with you later.
Peace :)
If I don't know a Jewish term, it is not a crime.
I am sorry, it seems that things are taken lightly. An indvidual Muslim won't fight a Christian or Jewish coz of their religion.
Just for your information jauntie. We have a saying in our area: Dine with the Jewish and sleep at Christian House. not Christian Dior
cheers jauntie :D
and not expect a reaction :D
hugs
of the World understand about either Christianity or Judaism or ANY other religions etc.
I mentioned 'the Sabbath' the other day to a Qatari - the response was that he thought that was a Jewish expression.
You, yourself, KH said you had never heard of 'kosher' - which means the same as 'halal'.
I was a bit taken aback on both counts, to be honest, and it made me wonder how much about other religions and ways are really understood here. Whereas, in the West we have at least 'some' degree of multi-national/religious knowledge!
Am off now. Will leave you now to your new destiny:)))
Who knows who would pop up now or later here and start their attacks.
You did not listen to me, being an old poor man :(((
You did not like nor agree with my opinion. OK
Am leaving you now. Face your destiny alone :)))
Good night
I agree with you that America did not make them do this
They follow that same technique they used with Saddam in 1989. The did not tell him to invade Kuwait at that time. They were "surprised" I guess.
Are you following the news in Saudia and other countries like in Lebanon recently.
We are fighting such groups and we are paying very expensive blood for that.
To eliminate them, the formula is very simple my friend:
Justice and peace.
NOt just Israel, one need to look even beyond that, the crusades, dark ages of Europe, the golden period of Muslims etc.
I keep asking the question. Does America really want to get rid of terrorists and radicalists or she wants them to grow and become a permentant enemy like USSR during the cold war?
I'll buy that one
There's total fixation about all things Jewish ... bit like I'm supposed to be fixated about all things Islamic ..
sigh
Just waiting for my excommunication papers to arrive from The Pope and I get a full house! lol
I understood the the Koran is written in Arabic and when translated into other languages, different interpretations emerge?
And I'm certain that non-muslims aren't really supposed to be tolerated ! :P
By the way, is this sort of true?
"The Arabs have 22 countries, most of them large and many of them very wealthy. The Jews have one tiny state. The Arabs have more than 600 times the land that the Jews have".
I haven't checked ..
Where from are you getting the translations and interpretations?
Quran is not a matter of discussion and is not subject to change.
Would recommend that you check the Islamic history and find out how the Muslims dealt with people in Spain for example. They brought culture and boosted the economy.
They never destroyed villaged
They never raped women
They never forced Christians to convert.
To conclude, we are proud of our religion. We do not expect some researcher in Cambridge or Harvard to teach us what does the Quran mean and how should it be.
Again, we are against terrorism and blowing self and others
I can understand countries at war over food, what I CAN'T understand is how religion can be used as a reason for killing.
It's the ultimate oxymoron in civilized society.
Are we just all being led by the nose by politicians who are using religious creeds for their own gain and so turn us against each other?
Even Mohammad was a political man. He wanted Islam to spread. No different from people before and after him I guess OF ANY religion or political persuasion.
Everything has a reason, a cause.
Unfortunately, you Westerners do not admit that.
You just throw your rubbish on us (Israel) and finance it and support it
All of that is on our account. Our lands are taken, properties destroyed, economy collapse and innocent killed. All of that in the name of protecting your petted baby. and your interests of course.
And you call that a blame game?
I read the Guardian story, and I saw some of the 'letters from readers' about the issue. One pointed out that a lot of the reason for the fright middle class UK feels is the way the Koran gets translated so many different ways. For example, this was one letter ...
"Could this fear of Islam, for this is what it appears to be, have something to do with ever larger numbers of people reading the Koran? Why should they? Well, if people were less willing to take for granted what they read, hear or watch in the media such a situation could arise. For instance, I read a board held by suicide bomber. This, I was told by a reporter, was a verse taken from the Koran. Sure that this was not so, I decided to investigate for myself. I was immediately intrigued to find that there are many translations of the Koran. It took some time butI eventually confirmed that the verse I had read on the television came from Shakir's tranalation of verse 9:30, which reads: "And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!" I have since found a number of verses which seem either racist, bigotted or seem to call for the killing of non-Muslims, some even appearing to call for the destruction of the very societies which have given Muslims sanctuary.
If Muslims could state that the Koran is a history book and that they no longer support the violent verses contained within it it would go a long way to relieving the anxieties of many who do try to understand the religion."
Some Muslims did participate in Terrorism against the West.
We do not agree with that and condemn that.
But is the other side helping us. America and Europe. Let us recall some history:
1. They used us to fight communism
2. To achieve (1) , they encourage Islamic movements
3. They created Bin Laden
4. They forced everyone here to finance and support Bin Laden
5. When USSR was defeated in Afghanistan, something happened between America and Bin Laden. That had him converted to a "terrorist"
6. and the most important, the Western unlimited and unfaithful support to Israel. Covering Israeli crimes and massacres and blaming us the Arabs/Muslims for defending our lands and properties.
Now with all of the above, how can we overcome the critical problem.
Arabs/Muslims alone cannot do much about it. We had and still have many "moderate" leaders who want peace but unfortunately Israel and AMerica and most of Europe want us to "underess", "bend over" and keep like that to please their stupid strategists and greedy economists and of course to keep their petted baby (Israel) happy and safe (according to their standards)
The case is hopeless
I know it's just reporting what has been reported. But it makes me really cross when I KNOW how much 'rope' Muslims and other religions have in the UK.
But it has been abused by some and now they cry because we get upset 'occasionally' and their own communities are too scared to intervene!!!!
Came from The Telegraph, and I will preci
"...we were, and still are, a country in denial about the threat from radical Islam. The reaction to the recent raid exemplifies this. First, we failed to implement basic border controls.
Then we tolerated extremism for years, before public opinion finally forced the authorities into action. She quotes several already well known examples of radical clerics who incited murder and other forms of violence while the British authorities, notably the Crown Prosecution Service and senior politicians, turned a blind eye.
Supporters of radical Islam such as George Galloway and Ken Livingstone are elected to public office: the latter's well documented hostility to Israel seems hardly to count against him. As recently as this year, the police went easy on those who used the publication of offensive cartoons about Islam as an excuse to call for murder.
For years, those who came here to incite violence were supported by a generous welfare state and enabled to continue their activities with the support of new human rights legislation. They have become the tool - sometimes willingly, sometimes unwittingly - of white political agitators and extremists, who have for years manipulated the anti-racist and multicultural causes for their own ends.
A climate has been created in which the police hardly dare to act on the basis of convincing intelligence, and are forced into a state of defensiveness. There is a widespread presumption across the intelligentsia, which leaks into the media, that the prime victim of this is the Muslim community.
Any suggestion that it might be the entire population - including innocent Muslims who might one day find themselves on a Tube train filled with poison gas or blown to bits - who stand to be the real victims is treated with disdain. And those who try, like Miss Phillips, to argue that the evidence supports greater vigilance are treated as pariahs."
Sorry to cut and paste, but I couldn't paraphrase or say better.
I did not write the article.
Whether I agree with the contents or no, whether I believe the contents or no. It is an extract and the main source is the Guardian. Am posting it here as it is without editing.
I find that an extraordinarly strong article!!!!!
"The problem isn’t necessarily with the stories themselves. There are obviously legitimate issues to report about jihadist or anti-Jewish strains within the Deobandi school, the agenda of a group like Hizb ut-
Tahrir that the government originally wanted to ban, or intimidation of converts to any religion".
That bit made SOME sense. The rest seems rather inflamatory.
And THIS:
"None of this is an argument for refraining from criticising Muslims or
their organisations – but it does highlight the need for context and sensitivity in a climate in which Muslims are under a crude assault that would simply not be accepted if targeted on any other community. The relentless media onslaught in Britain on Muslims, their culture and institutions risks turning into a racist witch-hunt".
WHAT A LOAD OF POPPYCOCK
Sure, there are problems in some areas - aren't there everywhere, but I reckon Britain is one of THE most tolerant of countries.
I guess one or two got annoyed when some of the Islamic Fundamentalists we educated and took to our bosoms turned around and started bombing us !